


Pain Enduring

by bluephoenixangel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Cuddling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kinda, Lance worries too much, Langst, M/M, Phantom Limb Pain, Shance Secret Santa 2017, Shiro is a good boyfriend, Sickfic, and hides things he shouldnt, chronic pain syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 12:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13076721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluephoenixangel/pseuds/bluephoenixangel
Summary: For the Shance Secret Santa event 2017Lance has been sore pretty much constantly lately, but its nothing to worry about, right?





	Pain Enduring

 

 

 

Pain Enduring

 

It took Lance way longer than it should have to notice how bad it had really gotten. though it wasn't entirely his fault, after all, he was always sore in one way or another nowadays. sore from training, sore from the latest mission or skirmish, sore from a late, sleepless night spent walking or running the corridors of the Castle because the latest batch of near disasters and too close moments weighed on him and haunted his dreams.

 

He barely noticed when the pain stopped going away entirely; when hot baths and long naps and a dose of the one kind of alien painkillers they deemed safe would only reduce it to a dull persistent soreness, muted but omnipresent. Lance shrugged it off as a result of the increased action Team Voltron was seeing. Of course he was sore, he barely had time to relax these days. So he sucked it up, snuck more painkillers from the med bay, and kept going. The war and the Galra weren't going to stop because his legs were sore, so he couldn't stop either, because if he stopped, then his team would be slowed down, and that was just something the universe couldn't afford. No amount of pain, even when he was fresh out of the healing pod, was going to change that.

 

* * *

 

It took Lance strait up collapsing during basic training warmups for him to admit something was actually wrong, and for the rest of the team to even find out. 

 

The Blue Paladin had been taking relatively easy practice shots at drones when a single step turned his world into a rush of pure pain, sudden sharp and electric through one leg and then the other.Before Lance knows what’s happening he's on the floor, and it takes him a few moments more to realize that he's screaming.

 

His team crowds around him, Shiro reaching him first and asking him what happened, a lull in the pain allows Lance to stutter out "My... my legs... don't know..." before another surge of agony turns the words into a groan. The next several moments are a blur as Hunk carefully picks him up and everyone hauls ass to the med bay.

 

At some point, Lance is set down on an exam bed, and Coran, unable to find anything wrong with his legs visibly, starts asking questions. The blue paladin responds the best he can explain about the sudden pain that seized him in the training room as the mustachioed Altean pokes and prods and scans him.

 

He's able to sit up as the surges of pain finally start to subside, and look around the room at the concerned faces of his team, feeling a spike of shame lance (ha) through his heart. Look at him, a Paladin of Voltron brought low by what was probably a pulled muscle or something, unable to even handle basic training. Lance moves to get up, trying to retain some semblance of dignity in this debacle of a day, but Coran pushes him back down, moving a large, strange device over to the bed to ostensibly take another scan. And lance is left to lay down as his legs return to their normal level of soreness.

 

By the time The Altean man has run through all the non-invasive diagnostic options the castles medical bay has to offer its been hours, and the rest of the group has filtered out of the room with a few quick well wishes and couple promises to check up on him later. 

 

"Ok my boy, I've done what I can, for now, need to wait for all those scans to be processed and analyzed, i’ll go over what they find during dinner, until then you take these and get some rest," Coran explained, finally letting Lance down from the exam table and handing him some round white pills.

 

Lance nodded, listless and feeling embarrassed by the whole thing, swallowing the pills dry and moving to the door, exhausted more by his shame at getting everyone worked up over what was probably just some muscle spasm than by the experience itself.

 

"Hey, feeling any better?" a voice startled The Blue Paladin as he exited, he jumped slightly turning to see Shiro walking down the hall toward him, from where he'd apparently been leaning against the wall, waiting for him. Lance blushed at the attention; he and Shiro had somehow wound up in the tentative beginnings of a relationship, and Lance was often flustered by Shiro's apparent ability to be very affectionate and even clingy when he desired to be.

 

All the same, he didn't want the older man to have to worry about this, it was nothing, Shiro had way more and better things to worry about than this, and Lance would do everything in his power to keep Shiro's worrying to a minimum.

 

"Uh yeah," Lance said half-heartedly, "Sorry for worrying everyone over nothing, and ruining training."

 

Shiro's eyebrows raised, " Nothing?" grey eyes filled with confusion, "Lance, unless you're an even better actor than I already know you are that was NOT nothing, you couldn't-"

 

"I'm fine though," Lance interrupted his boyfriend, probably with more force than he meant to, "It was probably just a pulled muscle or something, didn't stretch enough ya know." He tried to laugh it off, even as his legs were still sore, "Nice bath and a nap will have me back in action in no time!"  with that, The Blue Paladin turned from his leaders concerned gaze and silently prided himself on only stumbling slightly as a small but painful shock made it way up his leg as he walked.

 

"Ok... If you're sure, see you at dinner..." He heard Shiro say softly, all too aware of the concerned gaze of his leader following his every step. 

* * *

 

When Dinnertime came Lance was late, much to Shiro's concern as he looked around at the rest of his team. Pidge typing away on her computer, Hunk bustling around in the kitchen, Keith sitting and looking somewhere between contemplative and straight up bored, the Princess whispering to the Mice about some bit of gossip or another. But even as Hunk finally deemed his latest culinary experiment ready for the table the blue-eyed sharpshooter was nowhere to be seen. Shiro poked at his food, taking an occasional bite, lost in his thoughts and the memories of the day's events. 

 

It had been terrifying to hear Lance cry out in such obvious pain during training. Initially, Shiro had feared some kind of equipment malfunction, whether by the drones or a misfire from Lance's bayard. It was perhaps even more unnerving for there to be seemingly no obvious cause for the Blue Paladin's agony.  Shiro had seen enough in the Galra colosseums to know you couldn't just fake that kind of pained scream. With that in mind, the Black Paladin was running over his memories for the last few weeks, searching for some answer. 

 

He had noticed Lance had seemed rather lethargic lately, his energy a mere pale imitation of its usual brilliance; like something was weighing on him, exhausting him. Then again they'd all been running ragged lately. The Galra were quite busy lately, and therefore so was the growing Voltron coalition. But Lance's lethargy felt different somehow, it wasn't just exhaustion, his movements were stiff and stilted in a way that flew in the face of the boy's usual fluid movement. Something was wrong, and Lance was either ignoring it or hiding it from the rest of them and Shiro couldn't decide which was the worse possibility. 

 

He was abruptly pulled from his worries about his boyfriend by the arrival of a grim-faced Coran, coming through the doors of the galley with an air of urgency, a data pad in his hand. The light chatter the rest of the group had been having falling silent along with Shiro's brooding.

 

"Where is Lance," Coran said, brow furrowed and voice level.

 

"Don't know," Hunk said, "He never showed up for dinner."

 

"Somebody find him and bring him to the med bay stat," Coran ordered with uncharacteristic firmness, before turning on his heel and back toward whence he came. Shiro likewise wasted no time, rising from his chair to leave his half-finished plate behind and rush toward the main personnel quarters where their rooms were. hopefully, Lance had gone back to his room for a bath and nap like he'd mentioned.

 

"So much for 'its nothing'" Shiro mumbled under his breath as he ran.

* * *

 

Lance groaned and tried to roll over and get comfortable in his bunk for the fourth time that hour. minor waves of pain raced up and down his legs, preventing him from reaching the peaceful oblivion he sought. He’d already took two baths but it had done little to ease the tightness and soreness that wracked the lower half of his body. And so he lay on his bunk in damp pajama pants and his half-open robe, chilled and miserable.

 

Another groan escaped him as he heard the door to his room slide open, steps coming up to the side of his bed, and then a voice.

 

"Lance?" blue eyes cracked open to see his boyfriend leaning over him with a face full of worry.

 

"Sh'ro?"  Lance mumbled, his mind sluggish from pain and not quite understanding why Shiro would be in his room.

 

"Hey Sharpshooter..." Shiro's voice was gentle, "Coran needs you to come back to the med bay," The Black paladin dragged the back of his flesh hand across the tanned boy's forehead, checking for a fever, "You're not looking so hot Starshine..."

 

"Hurts...." Lance croaked out, "d' I h've to go... d'un wanna move...."

 

"Is it your legs again?"

 

Lance nodded shoving his face into his pillow and shutting his eyes.

 

Shiro ran his fingers through the short, messy brown hair, "Will you be okay if I carry you?"

 

Lance gave a non-commital groan and Shiro sighed before lifting the younger man from the bed with as much delicacy and gentleness as he was able, before moving back out into the hall and toward the med bay with arms full of barely conscious Lance. As the boy groaned and clung to him the Black paladin couldn't help nuzzling the top of his head and whispering a quick reassurance.

 

"You're okay Lance, I've got you."

* * *

Lance was not okay.

 

The verdict the scans had given was nerve damage. Probably, Coran had said, from some wound Lance had thought minor but wasn't, or something that had been healed too quickly by the pods. Whatever the case, Lance was now stuck with a bunch of misfiring pain receptors throughout his legs and lower body. The Blue Paladin couldn't even begin to think back on which one it might have been or when. He'd been sore for so long that he had no idea which injury could be the particular one that sealed his fate.

 

Lance had nearly started crying when Coran explained the extent of the damage and that, even with some special calibrations to the pods or strong medication, Lance was likely going to be stuck with this condition, if for not the rest of his life than at least a very long time.

 

And so, Lance was put on bedrest until Coran could formulate the right kind of painkillers he’d need to get through his days for the foreseeable future; and Allura announced that she was going to move the castle out of the most active Galra activity zones until Lance was back on his feet.

 

So Lance lay in his bunk once again, giving himself over to misery and self-loathing. They'd been making so much progress in kicking the Galra out of this sector and now he'd gone and ruined it. He was such a goddamn liability!

 

His teammates attempts at coddling weren't helping either, Hunk had stopped by with comfort snacks as soon as Shiro and Coran had gotten Lance situated, and Pidge had dragged the retro console they'd gotten from space mall and set it up for him. he'd tokenly smiled at these gestures, but after his friends were gone he'd just turned over and tried to sleep. He didn't want to think about anything right now, and with the soreness back down to a bearable dull buzz he was able to slip into a shallow slumber.

 

Sometime later he was awoken by the woosh of the door of his room and groaned. He really didn't need any more coddling to remind him of how useless he was right now thank you very much.

 

"G'way" He groaned into his pillow as the steps drew closer in stalwart defiance of his whiney wish.

 

"Just here to check up on you," Lance lifted his head from the pillow at the sound of Shiro's voice and looked up at the older man's scarred face.

 

"How are you holding up?" The Black Paladin asked, moving the bowl of blue chips Hunk had left so he could take a seat on the edge of the bed.

 

Lance groaned noncommittally and hugged his pillow to his face, willing Shiro to leave and let him wallow in his misery, but got only a comforting hand running through his hair for his trouble. Stupid Loving and caring boyfriend.

 

"C'mon Starshine, talk to me," Shiro spoke, his ‘I am leader hear me roar’ tone mixing with his worried boyfriend tone to coax Lance into lifting his sour face out of the pillow to actually face the older man.

 

"What’s there to say, I feel like crap..." Lance mumbled, "Please Shiro, just let me sleep."

 

"Sorry but no, not when I can hear you thinking all the way from my room," Shiro started rubbing Lance's back, "You haven't touched those purple cheese puffs Hunk brought you either so clearly something's wrong; talk to me, Lance."

 

The Blue Paladin managed to roll over to face his leader and lover and simply stared into those loving grey eyes for a long while before his blues teared up and he started spilling his guts.

 

"I Messed up big time," he began, "Now our push on the sector is kaput, and I'm benched for quiznak knows how long, and even if Coran can fix me i'll never be at 100% again and I can't believe how useless i...." Lance trailed off his babbling choked by a fit of sobs as Shiro leaned in close, shushing him and leaning their foreheads together as Lance regathered himself.

 

"You Guys should just put Allura in Blue and keep going, i'll stay on the ship, i'll just slow you down."

 

"Don't talk like that Lance," Shiro soothed, "You're still the best shot in the universe and we need you. we need you so, SO much Starshine." Lances response to that was a strangled groan of skepticism mixed with another hiccuping sob, " Yes we do need you, and Yes you can get through this, you'll see, we'll have you back out there in no time."

 

"But what if..." Lance hiccuped,"What if it starts acting up on a mission? i'll be dead weight...."

 

"No you won't," The Black Paladin retorted, "You have fought through too much, and through much worse pain to let this of all things stop you, I know you, hun, you'd grit your teeth and snipe any poor fool who had the misfortune to mistake you for an easy target."

 

Lance laughed hollowly at that, unable to think of a response, and simply leaned into Shiro's chest and let himself be cuddled for a while. They were quiet for a moment before a thought crossed Lance's mind and he spoke again.

 

"Do you get Phantom Limb pains, Shiro?"

 

The Black Paladin paused before replying, "Occasionally"

 

"How bad are they?"

 

"Depends, they come and go, they're...." Shiro took a stuttering breath before continuing, "They're the worst when the memories hit, flashbacks or nightmares...."

 

Lance was quiet for awhile, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend to offer comfort in thanks for answering a tough question.

 

"Okay... I'll try," The Blue Paladin declared.

 

Shiro smiled and kissed the younger man's tanned forehead, "That's my Sharpshooter."

 

Lance flushed and clutched Shiro tighter, "Stay with me tonight?"

 

"No need to ask."

 

Shiro slipped off his boots and Lance opened the covers to let him close. The two of them snuggled up together in the dim bunk room. Lance noted how it was easier to ignore the constant soreness with Shiro’s warmth pressed against him, as the Black Paladin reached over him to dim the lights so they could both settle down to sleep.

 

"Sweet dreams Starshine."

 

"Goodnight Takashi."

 

Curled up with each other on the narrow bunk, they both breathed easy for the first time in days.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hope this wasnt too rushed and sloppy and that Jaaylmao, the recipient is satisfied. i am now way too tired and need to sleep, goodnight.


End file.
